


A butcher reflects on the slaughterhouse floor.

by Baphomet_Pride



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Control Ending, Gen, Sacrifice, Self-Reflection, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 13:39:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9741095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baphomet_Pride/pseuds/Baphomet_Pride
Summary: "Commander Shepard was a cruel woman in her lives,"





	

Commander Shepard was a cruel woman in her lives, she had committed countless acts of brutality in the service of the Tenth Street Reds. There was not a week that went by without her being covered in the blood of anyone who didn’t pay their protection money, and even the police officers near her block learned not to stay too long on moonless nights. And then she left, boarded a ship to some alliance boot-camp ten billion miles away from her crimes. She couldn’t escape them there.

In her second life, she stood on the surface of Torfan, every single slaver that called the moon home was either dead or burning to death deep within their fortified base She had no regrets, her squad died to the very last, but in doing so she was able to set fire to the fuel storage that powered the whole base. She didn’t walk away unscathed, nearly three quarters of her face was badly burned, covered in a scar tissue that made her look like a monster. She enjoyed it, she refused even basic plastic surgery to fix it, enjoying the fear that she inspired, even before they knew her name. She wasn’t given a command post for her service, she stayed on the front lines, knee deep in the dead. She was content.

In her third life, she was welcomed as a spectre, and she was good at it. There were no rules to stop her, not regulations, and yet she had started to change. Her crew respected her, instead of fearing her, and the squad she gathered became the first friends she had. She was diplomatic in public, learned to temper her bloodthrist with justice, even showed mercy to those who deserved it. On the battlefield she remained a berzerker, forgoing long ranged combat just so she could see the eyes of the people she killed. Every single time she fought she left a charnel house in her wake, limbs ripped apart by human hands and ragged pieces of flesh torn by mass effect fields. Garrus would fret over the joy she took in dismemberment, Tali could barely handle the carnage, Liara didn’t know what to think about the woman who killed with such joy for peace. Kaiden and Ashley had been contacted by the Alliance numerous times, the ambassador begging them to reign Shepard in before she caused a diplomatic incident. And Wrex just loved to be part of it all. She became a legend, the woman who killed a reaper, the savior of the citadel.  
Then she died. 

Her fourth life was much the same as the third, her resurrection gave her no pause in what she was after. Cerberus tried to put her on a tight leash, but she snapped the chain almost immediately. The Illusive Man threatened to cut off funding on more than one occasion, but Shepard didn’t stop. She told him if he ever got in her way that she’d bomb every single Cerberus cell into atomic dust, and she meant every word of it. Her new crew learned to love her in peace and fear her in war. She fought like a demon through the streets of Omega, tore apart any mercenary who thought they could take a shot at a ghost like her. Even Aria had to reconsider her one rule, Shepard was a hurricane who would topple empires, and even a queen can’t stop nature. But she worked well with her, and they both benefited. Every single new squad member on her doomed voyage learned that Shepard was genuine, both in her violence and in her trust. She personally took the time out of her schedule to ensure that every single crew member was ready, all their final business taken care of. And they went through that relay, off the edge of the world.   
And they all came back. The collector base in ruins and Shepard promising that she would personally kill the Illusive Man, she made a final stop in Bahak.

Her fifth life began as a prisoner, and ended as a savior. She stopped a centuries old conflicts, rewrote all the injustices that she could could find, and broke a cycle. She wasn’t the first human spectre anymore, she was a figurehead. Every single action towards victory, her personal sacrifices ensuring that there was always another tomorrow. And for the first time in any of her lives she became tired, tired of conflict and war, but she persisted because she had too. Shepard couldn’t slow down, Shepard was the war effort. Shepard lead the charge on Earth, Shepard ran towards death guns blazing, Shepard made good on her promise to kill the Illusive man. Shepard chose the future of the galaxy.   
The reapers stopped firing, and slowly lifted up and returned to space.   
The mass relays were soon fixed, and the last reaper vessel flew into the sun of the local cluster.   
For the first time in all of her many lives, Shepard was at peace.


End file.
